


Missing pieces

by HaloOnFire2



Category: Naruto
Genre: (maybe) Major Character Death?, AU, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Character Death, Detective, Developing Relationship, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Homicide, Major Character Injury, Major investigation team, Most of the main characters are not included, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Naruto AU, Police, don't mind me just watching too much tv
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25938559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaloOnFire2/pseuds/HaloOnFire2
Summary: I'll seriously try to write a new chapter every week :)An alternate Universe where Temari, Tenten and Neji Hyuga work for the police in the major investigation team. Since they are all still young they are led by Kakashi, but when they just when they have to start on a case they are called back to the office. Kakashi has to step aside from the mission for frightening reasons, and so the three teens get a new leader. This leader is not what they expected though, a sixteen-year-old boy who is apparently rarely smart. Because the case seems not to be too weird, just a settlement that happens in downtowns, he is (even though he is under age) under great exceptions allowed to lead the team, but it soon turns out that there is way more to the case then meets the eye. Soon the teens are trapped in a dark world of secrets, lies and murder and there is no way out.
Relationships: Hyuuga Neji & Tenten, Hyuuga Neji/Tenten, Nara Shikamaru & Hyuga Neji, Nara Shikamaru & Temari, Nara Shikamaru/Temari, Tenten & Temari
Comments: 9
Kudos: 35





	1. chaos

**Author's Note:**

> So, I am a huge fan of the Naruto series, and also a huge fan of horror movies and murder novels so I decided to combine these two. Shikamaru was my favourite character from the beginning of the series, and I always thought, even though the series didn't really include this, he and Neji would be a perfect team because of their intellect. Because I wanted to write about that I put these characters together, and they will be the main characters, so sorry if I keep some of the original main characters out. 
> 
> This story is an Alternate Universe, so it doesn't follow the canon stuff. There will be some romance in the story too.
> 
> Also, I am definitely not a stranger to horror, so if you don't want to read gross details you should probably not read this. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Kakashi Hatake was used to work with the new people, he had to do that all the time. He knew he was the most trusted by Tsunade when it came to protecting the young ones.  
This didn't seem to be an extraordinary case. There was a body found in a nearby park, who was stabbed to death. He stood before the red-light police lines where the normal police were already doing their work, waiting for him and his group to arrive. Today his team was an unusual one. They were very short on staff at the moment, a lot of colleagues were ill, so his team was a bit of a made-up one. He was leading two eighteen-years-old, only one of them, a handsome, serious-looking guy with long dark brown hair and very light eyes had successfully completed one murder-case before, though it was not a very hard one to figure out. The body that was found back then had been of a drugs addict. He had been shot three times, and it didn't take long before his team had a tip from someone who had heard shots in the downtown. It had been nothing more than a vulgar settlement between him and his dealer he couldn't pay back. But still, they all said Neji Hyuga would become a top investigator in the future. Then there was Tenten. She had been in the same class as him, and people said she and Neji were lovers, but they didn't show it off, not that something like that was expected at work. Tenten had excellent scores on her exam, though she decided to stay at college half of a year longer to get into weapons, it was save to say she was an expert. This was going to be her first case.  
And then there was the third one. Because they were short on staff, they had to get someone over from abroad. She was nineteen years old and Kakashi had never seen someone with such a sharp look. She had pretty, but seemingly vicious green eyes and the girl, Temari, was obviously a complete beauty, though Kakashi had the feeling that she would make it hard for any boy who would even try to hit on her. Not one to mess with, he concluded.  
The group had introduced each other, and soon they were off to take a look at the body. They were halfway through a path full of sprawl, with used to be a hiking path but nobody had taken care of it, so nature had taken over. Suddenly Kakashi's phone rang. He didn't use his normal phone during work, so it could only be important.  
Kakashi recognised the number of chief Tsunade, so he stopped walking and answered the phone. The others stopped walking behind him.  
'Kakashi here, what is it?' Kakashi seemed to be one of the only persons that just talked casually to Tsunade, most of his colleagues wouldn't dare, she was quite a scary woman with a lot of power.  
'Return to the base at once.' Kakashi was silent for a moment. They had just been sent out, twenty minutes ago, so they didn't have the time yet to actually take a look.  
'I'm sorry, but we have no report back yet,' Kakashi said, wondering why this seemed to bother her so much. Of course, murder is awful, but as the chief of section homicide, she was as much used to this as a person could be.  
'It's not about the case, Kakashi,' she sounded awfully serious. 'You and your team, get back here at once.' Kakashi couldn't do anything else than obey.  
'What was that about?' Tenten asked as soon as he put the phone back in his pocket.  
'Chief Tsunade wants us back right at this moment, she didn't say much, so I don't know what it is about either.'  
Neji and Tenten looked at each other and Temari raised an eyebrow.  
'Does she do that more often,' she asked, not familiar with how things were handled around here.  
'Not that I know of,' Kakashi said. 'I have never been called back on a case in my entire life.' 

The four walked inside. It was getting dark, and it had been a whole scene back where the body was found before they had even taken a look. Kakashi felt bad for his young colleagues, who had to deal with screaming local police officers this soon, but it was not to be helped. They took the lift to the highest floor, were Tsunade's office was.  
Kakashi knocked on the grey door and she called them in.  
'I'm sorry about this chaos, guys, but I had to call you back.' There was not much in her office, she had some plants in the corner and a huge window, because of the hight you could see all over the city. At her desk, there was only a laptop and a few pictures. Kakashi knew that one was of her deceased little brother and the other of a deceased colleague, who had been ger lover back in the days when she herself had still been working as an agent. He was killed during one of the darkest cases that had ever happened. It was now 20 years ago that a vicious serial killer haunted this town. The case was now solved, but it had come with sacrifices.  
At the left side of the room, there was a pale, slim boy leaning against the wall. He had shoulder-length dark brown, almost black here and dark piercing eyes. His whole face was sharp, but he looked a bit uninterested. He was handsome but seemed to be very young. The boy didn't seem to care they were coming in. He just kept staring outside.  
'Listen, I want this case solved, but I have to call Kakashi out of this.' Tsunade started. Everyone looked in surprise.  
'What?' Kakashi said. 'Why?'  
'We need you here right now. There is a big crisis. You remember the psychopath serial killer Zûko, right?' Kakashi nodded, one of the cruellest cases he had ever dealt with. Zûko was not just a serial killer, he was an insane torturer who said that he could predict the future by torturing people in special ways. The pain and nearly dead state would cause them to see the future, he claimed. In their last breaths, they would tell him what was going to happen. The case was awful to begin with, the tortured body's that he would just dump aside of the road were horrible to look at, but things got really dark when he and his colleague, Asuma Sarutobi, had found voice recordings back at his home. All of the predictions that the victims had said, all kinds of them, like an economic crisis in Europe til a murder in the neighbourhood. He would never forget how he and Asuma had looked at each other when they finished listening to all the tapes. All of the predictions had come true.  
'There was a scene at the prison, and Zûko had the change to well, do his thing again. After the prediction only he had heard he was shocked, extremely shocked, and he didn't talk to anybody since that day. You get why we are desperate to find out what it was, and normally we would let the prison handle this, but Zûgo stated that he would only talk to you and Asuma since you were the ones who brought him down. We tried all kind of things, but we're really out of luck here. We couldn't do anything else than call you both in.'  
Kakashi nodded. He didn't feel like talking to a lunatic who seemed to have beyond human powers, but he knew it was important, so he just had to go. He sighed, this meant that he was going to spend long days at work the coming weeks.  
Kakashi nodded, and then looked at Tsunade. 'What about this case though?'  
'That is indeed a problem. Normally I would send Asuma instead of you, but I don't think I have to explain why he can't do that.  
We can't set you three alone on this mission, so we had to ask someone who might not seem like a first choice.'  
Kakashi was thinking. Was she thinking about Guy? No, that couldn't be. Guy was weird and all, but he was very good at his job so he was in no reason not a first choice. Then who could it be? Everyone he knew was unavailable. Then his eyes fell on the boy standing against the wall.  
'No, you can't mean...'  
'Please let me explain, Kakashi.' Tsunade interrupted. 'I know this doesn't seem like a good idea, but I have my reasons for doing this.'  
'Tsunade, you can't be serious! how old is this boy, you can't put him in danger like that!'  
'Please Kakashi, listen.'  
'No, I can't agree that you do something like this. He is a child a....'  
'LISTEN TO ME!' Kakashi didn't dare to speak anymore.  
'I KNOW this sounds like a bad idea, but there is no one else at the moment. The reason I give those three a leader is just because of safety, they are not ready to lead a case yet.'  
'Sorry, Mrs Tsunade,' Temari said, Kakashi was surprised that one of the young adults actually took the nerve to speak, this Temari really stood her ground. 'But how is he ready to lead a case? How old is he?'  
Tsunade didn't answer right away, she looked at the boy, who didn't even seem to mind everything that happened around him. He simply shrugged his shoulders and spoke for the first time that evening. 'I told you that it was going to be like this.'  
Tsunade sighed. 'He is sixteen, but...'  
'He is the same damn age as my brother?' Temari said in surprise. 'you can't just pull him on the field like that, I am sorry Mrs Tsunade, but I can't agree on doing this, I am not going to do something like this under the leadership of a child, for our and his sake.'  
'She is right,' Neji said. 'I am prepared to take a little more risk to keep someone else save.'  
'I get what you are all thinking,' Tsunade said, 'but just let me talk. I am not going to change my mind. I know that it seems more like a greater risk than a smaller one, but in this case, that is not true. You see, this boy is from the academy, and Asuma Sarutobi, you all heard of him, seemed to see something special in him. He has become a special project under Asuma and after a lot of begging he was even placed on a case when he was just fifteen years old. It took me much to say yes, but Asuma seriously said that he would leave if I didn't let him do this. looking back at it I should not have agreed on that, but I am glad I made the decision. Asuma promised that protecting him was his priority, and against my own will, I let them take on the case together. Ironically, he saved Asuma's life instead of the other way around and he was the key to solving this problem. After that, of course we took a special interest in him just like Asuma had done before. This boy, Shikamaru Nara, is the person with the highest IQ that is alive at this moment.'  
That kept everyone silent for a moment.  
'I know I handled badly on agreeing with Asuma, but this is clearly an exceptional case. He can handle this, I don't have more faith in anybody else.'  
It remained silent. Shikamaru showed emotion for the first time that evening instead of just a bored face. He stared at the ground and looked uneasy wich was not weird after everything that happened and was said only a few seconds ago.  
'Kakashi, you need to go now. Asuma is waiting for you.' Tsunade said, completely at ease again. Kakashi just mumbled 'yes,' and walked out.  
'Shikamaru, I leave this case in your hands,' she said. He just nodded and walked out.  
For the second time that day, three young adults sat down in a car heading towards a crime scene. This time though, their captain wasn't driving as normally. He was too young to even start driving lessons, after all.


	2. Puzzle pieces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeehaw I officially did what I promised to do at least one time! Now let's see how long I can keep this up though....

Shikamaru felt far from great. Of course, he had taken the job on himself, but looking back at it this might not have been the best choice. His colleagues didn't really seem to like the idea of being told what to do by a child and it was not hard to see for Shikamaru why. In the cases he worked on before, Asuma had always been there which made things much easier. The tall Asuma, with his muscular body and watertight reputation, was someone who others didn't dare to question. He chose to take Shikamaru with him on this case, so he would probably know what he was doing. This time Shikamaru didn't have this backup, so he would have to stand his own ground, something he didn't like.   
Shikamaru took a look in the map he was holding. Inside there were some blank papers to write things down, and it was supposed to keep everything they found on this case together. It also included 4 papers with information about them, the investigators. Shikamaru looked through them. His was at the top, and he took a brief look at it. There was some information about him, but most likely there were all kinds of signed texts that he was actually allowed to do his thing and to have access to all the stuff a normal investigator would have. The paper was signed by a lot of people, including his parents, Asuma, Tsunade and child protection authorities.   
He sighed, gaining him a look from Neji who sat next to him at the back of the car, but he didn't say anything.   
Shikamaru flipped the page to find the Neji's rapport. Shikamaru had seen Neji before now and then, but he didn't know him at all. He could only see some basic things about him, like how he did at the academy and his family. He was the nephew of Hiashi Hyuga, who was filled in as his guardian. Hiashi had quite a reputation and Neji didn't look to be much different. A serious, focused face. He didn't say much, and he probably would, just like his uncle, only say the necessary and wouldn't be talkative. He wouldn't be easily impressed either, so Shikamaru couldn't expect that they would be in friendly terms soon.  
Tenten Shikamaru had also seen before, Neji's girlfriend, they said. They seemed to be polar opposites. Tenten was known for speaking much and making fun. She always stood her ground and some people would even go as far as to call her a boy in a woman's body since nothing scared her off and apparently she could drink as a dude. Though that didn't seem to be the right description to Shikamaru. Even though she could act boyish, she would always wair stylish clothing and her hair and make-up were always on point. Tenten was the only one in the group that took extra time to take a specialisation. She was the weapon expert, people said, but this extra time at school lead to this being her first case.   
And last, there was Temari. She came from somewhere completely else and was called in for this mission because of the lack of people they currently had. She looked strong and serious and in her file, Shikamaru could find more personal things than he found at the others. Temari was an orphan, she was the oldest of three and had always taken care of her little brothers. She seemed somewhat cold towards the people around her, she probably only really trusted two people in her life, her brothers.   
Shikamaru closed the map after they had driven for about ten minutes, and nobody had said a word. Shikamaru knew all about social rules ad expectations, so he knew he would have to be the one to speak up, which he hated. It sounded so foolish when he thought about it, but he was always afraid to say the wrong things. His father often said that he behaved like a teenage girl with his overthinking. It was own of the bad things about his intelligence, he would think about everything. Plus, people always had so many prejudices about him when they would hear about his exceptionality that it was hard enough to be treated as a normal person in the first place. He didn't see himself as not-normal. Of course, in some kinds, everybody was a little different and not normal, but for a 'genius', his character wasn't so different than other teens. In fact, most people who knew him thought he was too normal for his own good. Shikamaru was quite lazy and it could really drive people crazy how he simply could refuse special offers only for him like special education and guarantee on an exceptional career just because he didn't feel like it, or it didn't interest him. That de ended up doing the same job as his father, wasn't a coincidence. He knew it probably sounded like he was some sort of creep, but crimes and murder interested him. Not the rude murder or crimes, just because people fought after drinking too much alcohol, but the kind of crimes that were planned and hard to figure out. Of course, he knew that he wouldn't be trusted on this kind of cases right away, but his father left him a good name and people like Asuma already had faith in him. Things like that just took time and Shikamaru was definitely not an impatient person. The only problem was that he had to waste his effort on things he didn't like now to get further and working towards a goal that may even be in the far future wasn't his thing at all.   
But still, he had to lead this team that Tsunade had trusted him with on high exception, so he couldn't mock like a child that he didn't feel like doing this. It was time to put his lazy side aside for a bit, he couldn't let these people down, they also didn't have a reputation yet.   
'You didn't have a look at the body yet?' Shikamaru asked to break through the silence.   
'No,' Tenten said, looking around from the front seat next to Temari who was driving. 'The exact moment we went there Mrs Tsunade called us back. Kakashi didn't seem to feel like getting in bad terms with her, so we went back straight away.' As Shikamaru had expected, Tenten was the easiest to talk. She actually couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Shikamaru, imagining the place he was put into. The whole time she had thought about it in silence, and in the end, she had concluded that she might as well just put his trust in him and follow his orders. Tsunade had faith in him after all.   
'Stabbed to death,' Neji said. 'They say it shouldn't be hard to identify him because his face and most of his clothes are still intact.'   
'I see,' Shikamaru said, thinking about it all. He couldn't form a hypothesis without seeing the real situation, so he didn't know what to do now.   
'You aren't a social hero, are you?' Temari said, in a bit of a mocking tone. Shikamaru rolled his eyes. So she was that type of person. He was going to have some hard time to earn some kind of respect from her.   
'Afraid so,' he said, in this particular way that many of his friends would call 'the Shikamaru tone.' Uninterested and not defiant, he was the last person to look for a fight.   
'Hm,' Temari said with a bit of a grin on her face that didn't exactly look friendly. She took a quick look in the mirror of the car and could see the child sitting there. She was quite pissed off. It wasn't because a young person was in charge, she knew all too well that with the right, or maybe the wrong experiences, a child could be turned into an adult at a young age. She also didn't have any kind of jealousy or something like that, she could prove what she was worth without pulling the shots and she had carried the responsibilities of others long enough. What she was mad about though, was that they put him in charge. The kid was the same fucking age as her youngest brother, and just because he's smart your going to let him do a job that leaves experienced adults traumatized? What kind of move was that? She believed that even though his high IQ, it was better for anyone to have the time to be a child. But then again, what could she do about it? She was only here temporarily, so she was not in the place to question the decisions of those above her. Perhaps that was her biggest problem with this all, that she could only watch again and wasn't in a position to do anything at all. She knew very well that what she was doing was not the answer, she wasn't going to scare him off by being mean towards him. Perhaps she should just shut her stupid mouth and not pick a fight with a kid, she thought. You just don't know what you are throwing away by pretending to be all grown up and saying you can just take everything that is thrown at you. After all, she knew a person who had done this way too early all too well.   
'We are here, by the way,' She said, though it was needlessly to say because of the police cars around them. She parked the car and they got out. A police officer immediately came up to them.   
'So are you now actually going to do your job?' Even though Kakashi had tried to explain the situation to him back when they had to leave, he didn't seem to take that as an excuse. 'Just walking away like that and leaving us here, you must think very highly of yourselves to pull something like that off. You are no better than the normal police, in case you are saying that to yourselves. And where has that guy gone anyway, we have to talk to him about the case you know.'  
Shikamaru, much to his dislike but knowing it was his job, stepped forward and offered his hand.   
'I am special detective and officer Nara, I will lead this case.' The policeman looked at him like he was a total joke.   
'You are serious? What did your parents pay to have you do something like this? Those fucking rich bitches, as if you could pull the job off.' Shikamaru just rolled with his eyes and looked annoyed at the officer.   
'You'll have to work with me anyway,' he said, unimpressed.  
The officer wanted to open his mouth but Neji was faster than him.   
'As from my point of view, you seem to be the one who can't pull off his job. I don't think you are supposed to look for a fight with your assistance. That was typical Neji. He would just say everything he wanted to say, didn't matter how rude it was, without showing a glimpse of emotion on his face. Shikamaru noted to thank him later and turned his head to the officer again. He looked him straight in the eyes and said: 'Can we go to the crime scene now?'   
The man led them towards the crime scene without saying another word. Shikamaru, who walked as the last in the line after Temari, heard her mumble something that sounded like: 'get over yourself, childish piece of shit.' Shikamaru wouldn't be surprised at all if she wanted the police agent to hear it.   
Soon the body came into view. All four of them were trained for this, so it didn't shock them like it would shock a regular person. Things weren't very gruesome and the body wasn't decomposing yet. As Temari had said, it wouldn't be too much of an effort to figure out the identity of the murdered man.   
It was a white man with short, brown spiky hair. He was wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt, that was covered with blood at the place where he was stapped. He was wearing sneakers that seemed to be rather new, for they were very clean and not yet worn out. He was also wearing a golden necklace and an expensive-looking watch.   
'Tenten, can you please take pictures,' Shikamaru asked the girl. He was looking and taking notes in his head. He didn't need to write them down right away. In fact, the only reason why he ever wrote notes was for others and not for himself. His memory was flawless.  
Shikamaru took a closer look and told what he saw, so the others could write it down if they wanted to.   
'He had been stabbed one time, which means that the attacker knew what he was doing. He knew exactly where to aim to guarantee the death of this man. There seem to be no signs of a fight, but the autopsy can tell us more about that later. He is still wearing his jewellery or at least parts of what he was wearing, so it doesn't seem the killer was interested in robbing him.'  
Neji came standing beside him. 'He has no wedding ring though, so he wasn't married or he the killer did take that.'   
'I guess, but what could be his reasons for only taking a wedding ring?' Tenten said, now bowing over his head to take a picture. 'That would be very odd right? the only reason I could think of is to make it harder to figure out his identity, but his face is still so intact that it doesn't seem like he was trying to do that at all.'  
'I can see no signs that indicate there has been a battle here.' Temari said after she returned from looking through the area. The best things I can find are some flattened leaves, but it is impossible to say whether these are from the killer, from the person who found the body or from us.'   
'You are right,' Shikamaru said, thinking. He had the habit to play with his earrings when he was trying to figure something out. 'My guess is that the murder didn't take place here at all. His body isn't positioned in a way it would look like if someone fell to the ground after being stabbed. He is to clean to be dragged here and there are no marks or something on the ground at all, at least none that would expose that he is moved around here.'   
'Odd,' Temari said. 'So the killer dumped the body, but why would he do it at a place like this. This used to be a hiking pad so it is no wonder there are still people wandering around.'  
'Perhaps he wanted it to be found,' Neji said, it seemed like a logical solution. 'It seems like at least he didn't mind that it would be found. Perhaps he wants to get us on a wrong track.'   
Tenten was done capturing the crime scene and walked towards them, where she stood still nearby Neji. 'We shouldn't jump to conclusions so fast. There is always the possibility that the killer panicked and got rid of the corpse as fast as he could.' Neji turned his head towards her. 'You could be right. I guess we should bring him over to the lab and look at things after they have done an examination. There isn't much of a need to stay around here making up possible scenarios.' As he said that he turned at Shikamaru for whom his words were meant, but he seemed to be bustling with something else. He had bent down and was looking at the watch of the man.   
'This is odd,' he said, more to himself than to the others. He was so busy with his thoughts that he didn't seem to notice his colleagues around him. After he still hadn't said something for a while but kept looking at the watch for at least a minute, Temari interrupted him.   
'Uhm, what is?' She said, raising an eyebrow because of his ignorance.   
'Oh, right, sorry. His watch, this is a digital one. You can see a couple of things on it like the weather and the hight we are on, there is also a compass. The weather and the hight we are on match with presence, but the time stands still.'  
'Couldn't it be that that works on a different battery or something and it broke down?' Tenten said. She was not a person that would jump to the strangest, deepest scenarios right away. She liked to keep the facts together and not add anything to them until she knew for sure it was right.   
'Could be,' Shikamaru said. 'But logically the time and the date would be running on the same thing. If the time isn't working, the date won't change. The only thing is that the date says November the 14th, and that is two days from now.  
They all went silent for a moment. It didn't have to mean something, but it was odd indeed. There was no reason to walk around with a watch that showed a wrong date, so it didn't look like he broke down.   
'So, what do you think?' Temari said, turning her head towards Shikamaru.   
'Nothing yet,' he said. 'Just hundreds of possible scenarios, just like you all probably have.' He took another long stare at the watch.   
So, the time stopped.  
The date was stood still at a day in the future.  
The temperature was correct.   
The hight they were on was correct, but that didn't really seem to be important since there were only slight differences in hight around this area.   
The compass...   
'The compass!' he said out loud. Shikamaru immediately put on plastic gloves they had carried with them. It was one of the first rules if you were to enter a crime scene. Put on gloves, to never disturb the area by leaving fingerprints.  
He slightly lifted the arm of the corps that moved stiffly, but even the slightest movement was enough to prove his theory.   
'It didn't move,' Neji said, he got where Shikamaru was going.   
'Indeed. And you can't just put off a compass or break it. Someone has to have disabled it by messing with the watch. Either before or after the murder took place, but this victim is wearing that watch with a reason.'   
'11:23 AM, November the 14th, North-East,' Tenten said. 'What does he try to say with that?'  
'What will happen in two days?' Shikamaru whispered to himself, looking up at the sky. There were some sheer clouds and the sky was turning orange while the sun was setting. What was going to happen that was impossible for them to prevent?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From this chapter on, I am going to put a reference from a horror movie in every chapter. I am curious if you can guess it ;-)


	3. "Radar"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha, this one goes out to one of my favourite movies.   
> Here is another chapter!

After they had told Tsunade about their suspicions she first reacted like it was total nonsense.   
'I know it does sound weird, but at this point, we might as well see if something happens.' Shikamaru said. 'We do have to wait for the answers we will get from the lab anyway. I'm going to look into missing cases files from around the area, to see if I can find our possible victim. Once he is identified and we know all the details about the cause of death, I think this will be easier to solve. But that will take at least two days anyway. If something happens during that time, please allow us to at least look into it.'  
Tsunade sighed. 'Fine, but don't go chasing ghosts. I agree with you that it indeed looks like somebody has messed with the watch, but he might as well have done it himself. Please keep in mind that this doesn't have to be a sign of anything at all.'   
'We will think of that, thank you,' Shikamaru said. 'We should call it a day, though. I see you guys tomorrow, right?'  
Tenten, Neji and Temari said something that he was right and they all headed towards the door.   
'Hold on,' Tsunade said suddenly, causing all four of them to turn around with surprised faces.   
'Easy, it is nothing of much importance,' Tsunade laughed, knowing that she had a big reputation that said not to mess with her for these kids. 'I just want to let you know that I have a chamber with computers for you, where you can work on the case. None of you has an office, so it might come in handy.'  
'Uhm, thank you,' Shikamaru said, who still felt like he had to take the word. Then he awkwardly walked towards her to take the keys she was holding and walked out with the others. 

Shikamaru walked home. He could have taken the bus, but he felt like he had to clear his mind. It was dark, but that didn't bother him. Maybe it was not the smartest idea to walk alone across the street as a sixteen years old boy, but he wasn't the type that didn't feel save.   
It had become much later than he had hoped to go home, but with jobs like this, you just couldn't tell when you had to stay late. The case went through his mind. At first, everything had seemed to fall together, even though he had to confess that it was perhaps a bit hasty to link situations that could be a coincidence to a for now 'normal' murder case. But the more he thought about it, the weirder the idea sounded and the more likely it was that both Tenten and Tsunade were right about them making elephants out of mouses.   
Al kinds of questions went through his head. North-East, that was what the compass had shown, But at every point you stand there is a North-East so, in the end, you couldn't really make anything up out of that. And then of course, what did they expect that would happen? Another murder? Why would the killer willingly leave behind evidence that two victims were connected? It was also possible that the victim left this clue because he knew he would die, but that would make things even more complicated.   
Lost in thought Shikamaru walked across a parking lot when a black car with blinded windows wrote towards him and stopped next to him. Shikamaru just wanted to keep on walking, but the window on his side opened and he saw his colleague sitting behind the wheel.   
'Is it a smart idea to walk alone through this area?' Temari said, looking at him.   
'I don't think it will be that much of a problem,' Shikamaru said. He somehow got slightly irritated because this woman seemed to baby him so much. 'Honestly, you never walk alone in the dark?'  
'Most likely not at places that where aren't any people expect from junkies at night,' Temari said with a blank face.   
'Well, I guess that is a valid point,' he answered. 'But you are here after all, so, seemingly there are people.'  
'Who says I am not a serial killer,' she said with a grin. Shikamaru snorted and then smiled as well. 'It wouldn't surprise me if you turned out to be one, you seem like the type of person that could pull it off.'  
'Looking at the facts you are more likely to secretly be a serial killer though. Uncomparable intelligence? Weird shady genius? doesn't that sound familiar?'  
Shikamaru grinned and just raised his shoulders. For the biggest part, he was just happy that he broke the ice with someone from his team, hoping this would make things easier. He most often spent time with people older than him, so it wouldn't be weird at all for him to become friends with his colleagues. Maybe he misjudged Temari a bit by thinking she was ice cold. Shikamaru could read people like a children's book, this was the first time he could remember that he had ever misjudged someone.   
'Seriously, do you want me to drive you home?' Temari said, breaking the silence. Shikamaru shook his head.   
'No, spare the effort. I could have just taken the bus you know, it was not like a had to walk.'  
'If you say so,' Temari said, though she didn't seem to be ready to drive away.   
'Where are you staying?' Shikamaru suddenly asked. 'Are you staying at a hotel or something?' He just was suddenly curious, he didn't really know why. But since Temari didn't seem to be in any haste, it didn't seem like a problem to keep on talking for a little while.   
'That was the plan, but I ended up renting an attic. Then I can cook myself and make a mess of the room without feeling ashamed. It is rent as an apartment so I have everything I need for as long as I stay here.'   
Shikamaru nodded. It was time to go home, though he seemed not to be so keen on going away at all.   
'I should go home though if I don't want to get killed by my mother,' he said, looking annoyed. 'And I'll be fine with walking, thanks for the offer anyway.' She looked at him with her beautiful green eyes, like one in a kind had. The colour was so bright green that you almost couldn't believe that it was really her eye colour. Her dark, long eyelashes helped them showing off their beauty.   
'Well I guess I need to be in good terms with my leader,' she said, smiling. Shikamaru couldn't help but notice a little twinkle in her eyes. 'Anyways, see you tomorrow,' she said, and after he had said his goodbyes she drove away and he walked home, more at ease than he was when he had left the office. 

The office was bigger than Shikamaru had expected. There were two older computers and 4 more modern laptops. They were standing on a big, wooden desk that was placed against the wall at the short side, under the window. On the windowsill stood a plant in a silver pot, with huge, green leaves. Shikamaru opened the black blinds before the window and even though it was still early in the morning, the sun shone through and lighted the room so brightly that you could see pieces of dust flying in the air. The big, wooden wardrobe was still empty, but Shikamaru could imagine that it would often be filled with all the materials on cases.   
He sighed and looked outside. The office was pretty high in the building, so he could look over the city. There weren't many people on the streets walking in the morning sun. It could easily be a day at the beginning of spring, judging by the looks, but winter was coming.  
There was a slight knock on the door, and Shikamaru saw Tenten peaking from behind the corner.   
'Oh, hey Shikamaru,' Then she turned her head to a person standing behind her who Shikamaru couldn't see, though he was pretty sure that it was Neji. 'We are at the right place,' she said, where after she en indeed Neji walked into the room.   
'Well, there is much room in here,' Tenten said, looking around. She seemed surprised that the place was so big. Shikamaru knew where she was coming from, remembering his own reaction on the room that very morning. Somewhere he had thought that they would get the silliest, smallest office in the entire building where the internet would hardly work because they were all such rookies. But then again they were trying to get answers to a murder case here, and that was a serious thing.   
They got themselves some coffee from the machine at the hallway and sat down on the desk, waiting for Temari to arrive. She wasn't late, they were just early.   
'We have been talking a lot about it, you know,' Neji said suddenly. From the look of his face, it wasn't hard for Shikamaru to guess that his older colleague was talking about the case. 'What do you think that is going to happen?'  
'To be honest, I am not sure. Of course I have all kind of scenarios in where there will be another murder, but that would, on the other hand, make no sense at all.' Shikamaru said.   
'You're right,' Neji said. 'It all depends on if there is actually going to happen anything at all. It would change everything from a stabbing fight to a planned murder. It feels like there is not much we can do at all right now.' Neji said, looking at Shikamaru.   
'As I said I think the only thing we can do now is to look into who the victim might be, even though the lab will probably tell us that within a week. But if we have our looks at the files about missing persons, we can focus on some that match the descriptions of the victim and look into his past. I must confess that I think that it is a bit worthless until we have the answer to our prior question, but waiting doesn't really seem like the best idea either.'   
The door opened and Temari walked in five minutes before they had agreed to meet.   
'Morning everybody,' she said as she dropped her back in the corner of the room. She took place next to Tenten and then looked around, without saying something.   
'I have been thinking,' she said at last. 'I think we can all agree that something about this whole thing doesn't feel 'normal' and that we might be dealing with a serial killer. Assuming that this is the case, we can't be sure that this was his first victim.'   
'That's right,' Neji said. We should look for comparable cases as well.' Shikamaru nodded, unenthusiastically, knowing that doing research for a whole day most likely was to only cause a headache instead of answers, but Temari and Neji were right.   
'We should indeed.'

'So we are back again after all,' Asuma said, looking at Kakashi. 'Not exactly how I wanted to spend my day but I guess it is an honour that he still remembers us so well.'  
'Definitely,' Kakashi said. Both him and Asuma were acting normal, they were experienced after all so they had seen a lot, but this morning something seemed to be clouding his Kakashi's mind. This case, it felt like it wasn't solved. People who worked as a detective often came to a point where the trail of murder went cold and after years the case was put aside so far that you might as well describe it as finished or forgotten. Most of the times, this could haunt the detectives like a nightmare. Still they would often find themselves wondering about it at silent moments, looking back at the dead trail time and time again, without discovering anything at all. For Kakashi, even though the case was stated as 'solved', this was the Zûko-case. They had found evidence and a murderer, though never had they found an explanation for his weird 'powers', how you might as well call them.   
'Remember that for him this is all just a game,' Asuma said. 'He knows that we are still trying to figure out how he does his things, he knows that he won't get his death penalty before we have our answers. He might as well be planning something out to just mess with us, we can't be certain.'   
'I know,' Kakashi said, and he really knew this all too well. 'But I just can't help having a weird feeling. Not just about Zûko's prediction, but also how it fell in line with the events from yesterday, getting me off a case. It somehow doesn't feel right.'   
Asuma nodded. For others, it might just look like Kakashi was overthinking things, but not for Asuma who had worked with him for years. He knew that Kakashi seemed to have some special power himself, he seemed to have some kind of radar for trouble, so when he warned him, Asuma was always extra on his toes.   
'We might as well have a good chat with the fellow,' Kakashi said, lost in thought.

'So there are a couple of possible outcomes in this,' Shikamaru said, gazing on his computer screen while Temari did the same at his side. Tenten and Neji had gone off to look into the missing person files, while they had stayed looking for comparable cases.   
'There is the possibility there is none, of course, but there is also the possibility that we do find something alike. This could be someone who somehow wants to leave traces, but there is no guarantee that the same traces lead to the same person. It could be a copycat or someone who uses the traces of this known killer as a disguise. It could also be that we are dealing with a serial killer, but that he doesn't use his traces at other victims.'  
'Or it could all be a coincidence,' Temari interfered. 'Really, it isn't going to help at all to think about a thousand possibilities and maybe even giving some great ideas to people who are planning a murder. We need to stay focused on that we don't know anything for sure yet, even if we find something and that is just because of all you just said. It might as well be tomorrow so that we can finally stop guessing about his stupid clues, if there even are clues. Temari was playing with a pen between her fingers which had long, sharp red nails that matched with her outfit. 'It just seems stupid because I can't help but have the feeling that we are exactly doing what our suspect wants us to do.'  
'Guessing a hundred different things while he silently disappears,' Shikamaru said, 'I know.'   
'If someone leaves clues to a murder, you are most likely paying a game with a sick psycho,' Temari said, 'and let that psycho now be investigated by a bunch of inexperienced children.' Shikamaru turned her head towards her. 'You think the whole Zûko-Kakashi thing was part of this to get the elder away?'  
'Thinking is a big word, but it did indeed cross my mind. If he knows who we are, he might as well know everything about us.'  
Shikamaru looked at Temari, who seemed to be stressed out, though she didn't really show it.   
'What's wrong, Temari?'   
'What if we have become targets in his game, Shikamaru? I don't believe in coincidence when it comes to crime, especially not when the murderer seems to be a fucking professional when it comes to cleanly killing someone with a knife. This just doesn't feel good. Like it or not, but we are vulnerable and so are our relatives.'  
Shikamaru was silent for a moment. It was something that had crossed his mind somewhere far away, but he had convinced himself that he was just making up something very ridiculous. But now it seemed that he was not the only one at all who had thought of this. Was there really something in the air about this case that made them look at it so darkly?   
'if this is true, then right now he is holding the strings.' Shikamaru said, trying to stay focused. 'But I learned that the best way to break strings is by not pulling at them right away. It feels horrible to say this, but I think it would really be our best move, in the long run, to do that what is most logical.' Shikamaru fell silent, he just couldn't seem to get the words over his lips.   
'Even though that could mean that somebody else dies.' Temari said bitterly. It seemed so wrong to make this decision, but Shikamaru was right. They didn't know any facts yet and they could not chase loose thoughts. 

They found nothing matching what they were searching for that they, neither did Tenten and Neji.


	4. A single dod

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oh boys, shit going on

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... that was definitely not a week... 
> 
> But in my defence, A travelled to another universe through a black hole to save them from an invasion of red Furby's, so I guess it makes sense that I didn't have time.

The next day, November the 14th, everyone was nervous. It was 11:01 AM, and everyone waited in silence.   
After a little while, Neji began to speak. 'Ok, this is useless. We can't just sit here and wait. Is there nothing we can do?'  
'As you might recall I spoke with the lab like, 7 minutes ago,' said Tenten slightly irritated. 'They have nothing yet, so we can't go any further on that. They say they might have answers around the evening.'   
'Nothing shows up out of the research we are doing either,' said Temari, also not for the first time.   
Shikamaru was looking at the clock for about the tenth time.  
tick, tick, tick, pillow  
Looking at the time didn't make it go any faster.   
It was not like the watch was their only lead. They had discussed already what they would do if nothing came out of it, but now that the moment on which they all thought something could happen was less than half an hour away, nobody could concentrate on anything else. They were all sitting behind a laptop, still looking for old cases that were in some way alike with this one, but nothing had shown up and now they were mostly relooking at files they had already seen.   
From the lab, where autopsies were also done, they had only heard things they already knew or suspected. The cause of death was the stab wound through his heart, it had been a single blow, only contributing the theory they had that this killer was someone who clearly knew what he or she was doing. The corpse wasn't old, the lab even thought that the person, who was still John Doe at the moment, may have been killed on the same day he was found. That could explain why there was no missing case of him yet because if he had only been away from his relatives for two days there was a good possibility that nobody had yet called in to report him missing, it was still easily possible that he had just gone off for a few days.   
Temari looked out of the window without seeing anything at all. She knew that this bad feeling she had was probably just because she worried too much, the chance that this crazy idea that had formed in her head was true was as small as zero. But even though, it was making her sick.   
Temari didn't want to be the overprotective big sister, because she knew that if there was anybody who could handle trouble themselves, is were her brothers. But she was the eldest, and there was always this feeling that she couldn't let go in which they were still young children that needed to be protected.   
Making a phone call just to make sure that her brothers were alright couldn't hurt anybody, right? Just hearing their voices for a second would make her feel a lot easier. Her brothers and she had been targetted to much for Temari to feel easy about a case in which a lot of things didn't seem to be right.  
She stood up. 'I'm sorry, I have to make a quick phone call.' Shikamaru and Neji just nodded and Tenten said 'go ahead.' They still had some time left before it would be 11:23, and nobody felt like they had to tell her to keep track of the time.   
Temari grabbed her phone out of her bag and walked out of the room. She closed the door softly behind her and walked away through the corridor until she had taken a turn to the right, then she leaned against the wall and typed the number of her oldest brother.   
It rang a few times, and Temari's heart was beating loud. It was almost 11:23 AM if they didn't answer now they could have been made into a victim. what if this case was connected after all and...  
'Well well, what a pleasure, Tem.' She breathed out and felt at more at ease. 'So what did I do the deserve a call from you?'  
'Can't I just call?' Temari in an irritated voice, what was more for the form than for real.   
'Well, you wouldn't, he honest,' Kankuro said now 'annoyed' to. They were siblings after all, so they might as well act like siblings.  
'Yeah yeah, right,' Temari said, getting to business since she didn't have much time. 'You are both alright, aren't you?' She asked, now with a different tone in her voice. The tone made Kankuro freeze in place for a second. He had heard Temari talking like this more, but back then...   
'Tem, everything is alright with you, isn't it?' Kankuro said, now sounding worried. Damn it, thought Temari. She really wasn't any good in hiding her worries when it came to her brothers.   
'It is fine, Kankuro. I am just worried. Is Gaara with you?' Of course Kankuro didn't buy it.   
'Temari, what have you been dragged into? I know you are never worried unless you have a real reason to...'  
Kankuro had seen right through her, which was not a surprise. But then again, Temari was working here as a professional so even if she did trust her brothers with her life, she couldn't tell anything about the whole case to them as long as it was to stay secret.   
It was 11:19 now, Temari didn't have much time left.   
'Don't avoid my questions! Is Gaara with you?' He had caught up on her worries anyway, so there was no reason left to waste any time with being discreet.   
'Yes, he is! We're both at home. Temari, what is going on, are you in dang...?'  
'Listen, please stay home, just for fifteen minutes or so. Do not open the door. It will be alright and it is probably nothing, but please do as I say. I need to go now, I love you both, bye.'  
'Temari!'   
She ended the conversation. As she slowly walked back to the office she cursed herself. There was no reason to make all of that so dramatic and worry her brothers like hell. But then again, she couldn't stay on the phone any longer and Kankuro would never let her just say things like this without any explanation. And perhaps it was even better if they were worried a little bit for now, if nothing happened would call them directly anyways to say sorry and make them at ease. She hated to leave things this way, but again, it was better to be careful, especially in their situation.   
But Temari wasn't a kid looking after her brothers anymore and she had to get back to work. She took a deep breath shaking all of the thoughts off and walked back into the office.   
Tenten came walking to her quickly, which made Temari believe something had happened while she was gone, but then she just looked at the blonde and said softly: 'Everything OK?'  
Temari smiled a little and nodded, surprised by how involved she was. They both took place at their desks.   
11:21.   
11:21  
11:21  
11:21  
11:22  
Everyone straightened their back one more time.   
'We still don't know if anything is going to happen,' Tenten said because the air seemed to stiff.   
'Whatever does or does not happen, we'll see it in a minute.' Shikamaru said.   
11:23  
at the second the time changed on the laptop screen, the one Neji was using turned black, unless a little red dot in the to the upper right corner. Neji immediately moved the mouse to make the computer respond, and the home screen went on, but the dot stayed. Nobody said anything for a few seconds.   
'We all know that that is the North-East. Open a map,' Shikamaru said, 'This can't be a coincidence anymore, open a map!'  
He felt his heartbeat raise. This all, it all seemed like they were following a code someone left for them. But who would do something like that, who would claim their murder to investigators?   
As soon as Neji pressed the internet icon, a map opened, as if someone had left it open in the background.   
'He hasn't used that,' Tenten said, but it was needlessly to say. They were on to something real, they all knew it now.   
The map that opened was the area they were in. In the middle of the screen, their location was shone. The map seemed to be of a relatively small area, at most covering 25 km or so.   
The dot was not gone. In the right corner, it was placed a green in a green area, which was presumably a park. At the back of the park, there were woods, but the dot was placed exactly at the edge of these woods.   
Tenten was seated next to Neji and Temari and Shikamaru had moved from their seats and stood behind him. All their faces were glued to the laptop screen.   
Shikamaru was looking at the screen. At first, it seemed like the thought had never occurred to him, it was as if this 'work world' and his daily life just weren't one thing. But looking longer, seeing that dot exactly on that point, he could only conclude that it was real. Even though he seemed to have known it for a longer time, everything seemed to sink in seconds later. It hit him like a weight was falling on him and he needed seconds to realise what was going on.   
Then Shikamaru stepped back. It seemed so suddenly for the others that they all turned around and looked at him, seeing his terrified face. But for Shikamaru himself, it felt like his brain had just stopped working and he had wasted precious time.   
'Wha...' But Tenten didn't get the change to finish her question, for Shikamaru couldn't waste any more time.   
'He started walking towards the door as he spoke orders: 'Temari, get your car keys, Neji and Tenten come with us or with another car if you have one, but make it quick. We need to move now!  
'That fucking dot is placed right on my house.'


	5. white and red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here is chapter 5, shit is happening.

What were you supposed to say in a situation like this? "Are you OK?" "Don't worry?" There was literally nothing that you could say to make things easier and nobody wanted to risk making the kid who suddenly seemed years younger even more worried than he already was.  
As they were all hurrying of the stairs towards the parking lot, nobody dared to say a word. Somehow Shikamaru was the first one to regain his ability to speak.   
'Just do as you normally would,' He said. Even though he was panicking inside, he knew that getting mad wouldn't change a single thing. He just needed to stay clear if he wanted to handle this correctly. As for the others, how could the possibly find the right words to say in a situation like this, to their child-colleague who's family might be held hostage or worse? He knew the struggle of not being able to find the right words all too well, so it didn't surprise him that nobody said a word trying to comfort him. That was not what he needed from them right now anyway. He just needed them to stay focused, so even though it didn't mean anything at all to himself he muttered: 'It will be alright, we don't know what this is. It might as well be a false alarm.  
They opened the backdoor that was leading right from the stairs to the parking lot and was rarely used by anyone because most of the employees would take the main entrance and make a chat with colleagues.   
Would a second make a difference? Shikamaru didn't know and as well as he could understand the most extreme problems and solve them, as well he knew that this was in the end all out of his hands and that if things were to be, he could do nothing to prevent them, not with the wisest strategy.   
Temari pointed to her car and Neji and Tenten had decided to take their own. As they took seats Shikamaru told her the address and Temari just started driving, as fast as she could and was allowed.   
Shikamaru grabbed his phone and typed the number he knew all too well. The following seconds of silence were the longest he had experienced, but quite fast his mother took up the phone.  
'Mom, are you at home? Is everything alright?'  
'I am, what is wrong?'  
'Listen, I have no time to explain anything at the moment, but there is a high chance our home is being targetted. Just get dad and tell him, he will know what to do. I am on my way, I explain it later.'   
Shikamaru pressed the conversation away and regretted it immediately. He could have just stayed on the phone until they arrived, even if it was just to hear his mothers voice as long as it was still possible. He couldn't think straight but even though he knew what he had to do. How harsh it sounded, how far this was from his nature, he had to pretend this was a 'normal' situation, if you could call something like this normal in the first place. He had to act like he wasn't personally involved, only like that he could make the choices he normally would and trust his mind. Shikamaru knew that talking to his mother would only make things more emotional so he decided that it was better to put it away, even though the thought that this might be the last chance to hear his parents alive and well would not leave his mind. He had warned them, that was all he really could do.   
When they had to stop the car for a red traffic light, Temari turned her face to Shikamaru. Even though he was handling the situation better than she could ever do, she suddenly saw that he indeed was just a 16-year-old. How adult he might act and sound, at a moment like this he was just a boy who lived with his parents.   
'It will be okay,' Shikamaru said when he saw her look, but it was more meant to himself than to her. He couldn't look Temari in the eyes for somehow it felt like that would make his emotions stronger and he could not have that. He kept staring straight in front of him on the road and saw the traffic light turn green.   
'My father is also a detective, he will know what to do.' But was knowing what to do good enough in a situation like this.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shikamaru barely waited for Temari to stop the car to step out of it and walk towards the door of the house they were standing in front. It was a large, detached house, it almost seemed like a mansion. It was made of dark bricks and was surrounded by green. When they had entered the park there had been other houses, but none stood as far back as this one. As the dot had shown, it was directly at the edge of woods, that was rare in this part of the city.   
Tenten and Neji arrived only seconds later. Neji and Tenten quickly walked towards Temari to see if she knew any more than they did by now, but they were interrupted by the sound of a door opening.   
Shikamaru who was halfway on the path to the door looked up and literally every muscle in his body seemed to relax a bit when he saw the person coming out of the door.   
'Shikamaru, it is alright.' The voice sounded worried but also firm, clearly meant to make sure that the boy would let go of his worries.   
'Are you sure? There could be explosives or something, I...'  
'I take that chance small,' the mail said again, now easier, when his son had reached him. 'I checked the security camera's, nobody unless relatives have been here for three weeks.' The family had special security cameras since they were indeed definitely no strangers to the dangers that the profession of Shikamaru and his father could bring. The camera's only responded to movement in connection with temperature change, and so it would save only the images of people or animals walking near the house. Afterwards, it was easy to watch these footages back, since they were not many and relatives could easily be recognised.   
'And I think I know what it was which led you here since I heard a strange sound coming out of your room. I think your laptop has been hacked.' The man smiled and put his hand on his son's shoulder.   
Now that the real terror seemed to be gone, Temari was able to look and actually see things instead of just scanning on things that could be a thread. The man who was standing with Shikamaru, which she was quite sure it was his father from the way he was acting, but more from his looks. Shikamaru and his father looked much, remarkably much like his father. They had the same deep, dark brown eyes, their faces had the same facial features of sharp lines also their eyebrows had the same, strong look. The only real difference, apart from that his father, of course, looked older, was that his father had a goatee.   
After he had said something to his son that the others couldn't hear and he had made sure that his son was as much at ease as possible he looked at the persons standing still at the furthest edge of the yard. Neji and Tenten knew Shikaku from the office of course, since, just like his son, he had proven to be more than a regular detective and he recognised them as well and knew their names, remembering names was definitely not hard for the Nara man. He had only heard about Temari for he knew that someone was coming over from abroad to help out with a case, but he had never seen her. When she was the last to walk in he introduced himself shortly.   
Before the four went upstairs to look to what had happened to the computer, Shikamaru had first gone to the living room to change a few words with his mother, and then he had another small conversation with his father.   
'I will not interfere with what you are doing right now, but you know that I have to talk about this with Tsunade. We have discussed this and your mother will kill me if we go against these words, you could...'  
'...Only take this on if it didn't end in something big, I know.'   
'Good,' Shikaku nodded and walked away, leaving the door towards the stairs open for his son and colleagues to take.  
After they had walked upstairs Shikamaru sighed and then looked at the others.   
'We will do what we must do right now, but Tsunade will probably get at least Tenten and me of this as soon as she hears what happened.' Neji didn't respond while Temari gazed troubled. Both Neji and she knew it was true. In this job the world was harsh and you needed to be able to handle things, but for a first mission there was always made sure that there was someone that could guide you, and if possible it was not something too dark and sincere. You had to be able to handle this, eventually, but even with things as torture and murder to longer you where involved, the less it did to you. Nobody wanted to throw inexperienced people to be thrown right into the deep.   
'Well, we'll have to shake that off for now,' said Tenten in the end. 'Right now we need to take a look at what has happened to your computer, time doesn't wait for the right people to come.'  
'It doesn't,' Neji said, after that, they entered the room.   
They found Shikamaru's computer just as Neji's laptop had been seconds after the clock struck 11:23 AM. The whole screen was black, with again a single red dot. This time the dot wasn't in the North-East of the screen though. It was exactly in the middle of the screen, and somehow it seemed to be staring at the teens.   
'Do you think this is going to be another location?' Neji asked. 'That the dot is on the middle of the screen doesn't mean that it's pinpointing this location.'  
'Perhaps we shouldn't have left the office after all,' said Shikamaru. 'This might as well be just a diversion to get us of the heels of this murderer.'  
They sighed. It felt like this was a big mistake, but then again not responding to this clue, or how you would name it, wat neither an option. Looking back at the situation, Shikamaru should have ordered someone to stay in the office. He cursed himself. He surely didn't have his emotions under control as much as he would like to.   
'Nobody expects you to be able to read minds, you know,' Temari said, sounding much ruder than she intended to be. Temari was not the type that could easily express her emotions so that often care would sound like anger. Now she had brought herself in the same situation she was always in again, being the bitch that would call out people who didn't deserve it.   
'What I mean is that you shouldn't give it too much thought now, there is nothing to do about what is done.'   
'Certainly, you're right,' answered Shikamaru, who sounded a bit irritated, as Temari had expected he had judged her tone wrong, even though he didn't seem to give it too much thought.  
'I know what should be done,' he said, while looking at the computer.   
Slowly he moved the computer mouse, but the slightest movement was enough to make the screen turn white so intense, that the colleagues were blinded for a few seconds. Therefore firstly they only heard a sound. It was hard to tell what it was they heard. There were small noises that firstly didn't seem like anything important, like the sound a UV-light makes when it flickers on. They also heard a soft beep that echoed.   
After Tenten, Neji, Temari and Shikamaru could see clearly again they saw that a video had started playing. They were looking at a white roof where indeed was a long UV-light flickering. The camera angle went down as they saw an entirely white room. Because the footage was taken near the wall, it was impossible to see how big the chamber was that they were looking at, neither did they know what was in it.   
Suddenly a new sound filled came out of the black boxes standing next to the computer. It sounded like the clinging of chains, after that everything took place fast.   
A creaking noise began to play and suddenly the camera turned. Loud gasps filled Shikamaru's room while Tenten took a step back and Shikamaru put his hand before his mouth. The wall was now not visible anymore, but they were looking into a large, completely white room, where the colour red screamed in their faces from the middle of the room. There were indeed chains and they were tied around a body that lay on the floor. At this point, it was impossible to see whether this was a male or female because the corps had been tortured severely. The body was bent in an impossible angle and it was entirely covered in blood. Pieces of flesh, fingers and toes were lying around the body.   
It was a shocking sight that nobody had expected. It was a struggle to all whether to look away or to see what was the idea of the video, though it seemed to be clear as day: the murder wanted to show he had made another victim, and that even though they thought they had been on his tracks they had in fact just fallen into his plan.   
The camera zoomed in and in until it was showing the face of the person, that hadn't been visible until now. The eyes were closed and one would probably not be able to open because of the swelling around it. The entire skin was purple and there were cuts in it, the nose was broken and blood was coming out.   
'Oh my god,' said Tenten softly as the others just looked.   
After a while, nothing had happened and Neji spoke softly.  
'It this person dead?' Even though it seemed to be a stupid question, it was not so for a trained eye. Neji had seen the entire body and even though it was broken and covered in blood he had nothing seen that was immediately vital.   
'I hope so,' Temari said softly while she looked at the roof 'This person is either dead or soon to be.'  
'It is alive,' Shikamaru said barely making a sound. But indeed he was right as the four saw that the mouth had opened and was breathing softly, yet with much effort. Inside the mouth, there was just crimson red that came streaming in thin lines as breaths were taken.   
Suddenly the person began to move wildly and screeching. Foam was coming out of his mouth and while he was not able to make anything more than soft sounds. At first, Shikamaru thought that he was looking at convulsions, but it was soon proven to be untrue.   
The camera changed again and they saw another person dressed in white and wearing a hood and a mask. He was cutting in the stomach of the person with a small knife. He turned his face only for the teens to see a white oval mask, with two small black holes as were the eyes should be. His dropped the knife and raised his hand weaving, and even though Shikamaru couldn't see anything of his face, he could have sworn he was grinning.


	6. Reason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy, typing is hard when your laptop constantly sounds like a jigsaw (I mean saw might be my favourite movie but this really isn't necessary...)
> 
> Anyway, in this chapter I tried to focus on the characters more, so get to know these characters you already knew because you are reading a fanfiction! 
> 
> Stay save peeps

Neji waited in his kitchen for the water he had put on a fire to start boiling. He glanced out of the window of his sixth-floor apartment to the dark street where only the lights of cars driving by were visible, even though it was not midnight yet. Not many people would choose to live in a building this near to a large and busy street, but Neji thought he had no right to complain. Not many people of his age could afford such a luxe and big apartment where you had to share nothing with others.  
It was not like he made it this far already just on his career as a homicide detective, but more likely his rich uncle where he had been living ever since his father had passed away. Living with Hiashi Hyuga had never been necessarily bad, but still, everybody had known all along as soon as he was old enough it was best for the teen to move out and live on his own, for there were many unsolved issues between Neji's own father and Hiashi which still lingered in the air around him. There always seemed to be a certain heaviness between the two, even though Neji knew that his uncle loved him in his ways, as he had also loved his father.  
As a result, as soon as Neji had turned 18 years old, he had moved to this luxe apartment Hiashi had forbidden him to pay himself. Deep down inside the elder couldn't let go of his nephew.   
After a while, the water started boiling and Neji woke up from his thoughts. He grabbed two mugs out of the cupboard and brought them to the dining table, where Tenten was sitting looking at her phone. Neji and Tenten had been close friends for a long time and the girl had never seemed to enjoy being at her parents, so now that they were a couple she was more often at his place than not, technically sharing it with him.   
Neji poured the boiling water inside of the cups and put a box of tea on the table. Without even looking Tenten put out a flavour and took a deep breathe when she hung it into the water.  
They hadn't talked after the video, at least, not really. At Shikamaru's house, they had made a couple of notes on the new information they had gathered, but soon after that, they had left for the office. It had been awfully silent while everyone tried to deal with the horror they had just lied their eyes on in their own ways on the horror they had seen. They tried not to let the video influence their work, but that had in the end been proven impossible and Shikamaru had told everybody to go and set their mind off of the tortured human. He had promised to arrange a meeting with Tsunade but had told them to figure out what they wanted first, Temari, Tenten and he himself had shortly left after that.  
Now it was time to finally start talking about everything for real.  
'So,'Neji had bearly said a word before Tenten started talking. This was actually a habit of him she had caught onto that he didn't even know he had: always when it came to opinions he would let Tenten talk first.  
'I don't know what to think,'Tenten said while she sighed and looked outside, letting her finger slide over the edge of the mug. 'I mean, nobody would want to be involved in something like this. We are definitely not looking at an ordinary murderer here but a psycho on the loose. On the other hand, it is the job that I signed up for, even though this is extreme. And maybe it's just because of the extremeness that I wouldn't be able to let it go anyways.'  
Neji nodded, he had not expected to hear anything much different from Tenten anyway, for he knew all too well that she wasn't a person to run away from danger.   
'I know what you mean,' he said. 'Yes, that video was cruel and made me sick, but sadly that is something that is, part of, involved in our job. But the torture is not the real thing that has been on my mind.'  
'He knows us,' said Tenten, therefore saying the words that Neji had thought. 'Well, at least we can be certain that he or she knows that Shikamaru is on this case. Our suspect even knows who he is and where he lives, so if he doesn't know already he will find out about us soon enough.' Tenten thought about this for a little while and after she added: 'We could be victimised here.'  
Again Neji nodded. 'Is that a reason for you to walk away?' But he already knew her answer. Even though he admired this part of Tenten, how brave she was and how she would always stand her ground, he was also most afraid of this part because it was bound to lead the girl into trouble.   
'There is no chance I can leave this to rest anyway. I think Tsunade knows that if she gets us of the case we would continue the hunt on this murderer without her backup, so that will only make the situation worse.' Tenten took a sip of her tea that had turned dark, she couldn't stand it when it was not strong enough. Suddenly she smiled.  
'I am not going to leave you alone, whether you like it or not,' she said. 'You are never going to stop your investigation on this one, so why should I?'   
Ýou must consider everything, I do not make choices for you,' Neji answered quickly because the last thing he ever wanted to happen was that Tenten would go straight into trouble because of him.   
'Oh, believe me, you don't,' she answered as she pulled a string brown hair out of her face after loosening the bun she had been wearing all day. 'You are just an important key to the right answer.

Temari was sitting on the sofa of her hotel room and looked around. It was a nice room with a modern interior mainly existing out of black, grey and white. The furniture consisted of geometrically formed pieces wich along with the colours gave the room a fixed design which was broken up by many plants.  
Even though she was looking around, Temari's mind didn't go to the room around her. She just couldn't get her mind off everything that had happened today and she knew that the others were in a resembling situation. She thought about Shikamaru and the panic she had seen in his eyes. Most people would say that he was still a child, though Temari felt like he was far from that. Sometimes she wondered how much of a child he even had been. Immediately she thought about her brother were, definitely not as smart as Shikamaru, but just like him had to leave their childhood behind way before the should have. Either you were forced to always look over your shoulder and rethink everything over and over or you were born with a mind that forced you, it didn't really matter.   
But what was Temari's own next action? Was she going to leave this be and go back home, or go through with this? Temari was not a person to leave things unfinished, even if they proved to be dangerous, but her mind was always clouded with thoughts about what was best for those close to her. She didn't easily accept people in her life, with the result that those who were close meant everything to Temari. There were a lot of things to consider in making her decision.   
This whole case had been proven difficult already, so if she decided to go through with solving it, it would mean that she was not going to be at home anytime soon. A part of her thought that this was more save for her brothers anyway, she was miles away so doubtfully they would even pick up anything at all. But this logic was worthless, considering that the criminal they were after knew the identity of his trackers. The link between her and her brother was easily made with that information, which made the chance that someone would bring them a visit was not impossible. If that happened she wouldn't be there and she had sworn to herself that that would never happen again.   
Decisions, decisions.What to do with those. It was something that you have to do on your own, even though the effects would be visible for more people. She couldn't help but think about the others again. Neji and Tenten, they were undoubtfully not going to leave the job to someone else. They would of course consider the risks, but in the end, they both had this strong sense of purpose, what's has to be done, has to be done. Shikamaru on the other hand, what was he going to do? He didn't have any feeling of responsibility to himself at all and if it were for himself he would just do nothing with all of his talents and have an easy, calm life. But Temari had seen that as soon as other people were involved, he would immediately take everything on his shoulders until he knew they were safe. The question was, was he already involved enough with them to feel this way? Or maybe his loyalty to this Asuma that had put him on the mission in the first place was a reason for him to not let it go. But if he would do it for himself, it was hard to say for this boy.   
Temari smiled slightly. He really was particular, Temari had never met someone like him. She caught herself slightly hoping that he was not going to stop because she wanted to get to know him better and see what his capabilities were. Though she was also afraid that he wouldn't be able to make his own decision because he felt needed and that certainly shouldn't be the case. Shikamaru was a mentally strong person, which somehow seems to come with the opposite of mental health. It is after all far more easy to lock someone in a place where they often spend, his mind. The effects traumatic events can have on someone who is an overthinker are marvellous.   
Temari herself was no stranger to be stuck in thoughts, and she found herself asking if she didn't worry too much for Shikamaru. Surely it was not weird that she wanted to protect her colleagues from getting killed, but the effects a job like this would have on his wellbeing was far from her problem. Jet somehow she seemed unable to let it go, perhaps because he reminded her of her brothers in some ways. Temari didn't want anybody to be trapped in a world full of crime and murder after everything she had seen, that was why she started studying for being a detective in the first place. But she did realise that it was not her place to keep colleagues from taking the job.   
'Jeez, let it go Temari,' she said to herself while she got up from the couch to put the dishes in the dishwasher and make herself some coffee.   
Temari wanted to speak to her brothers, but she thought it was a bad idea. After all, she was not allowed to tell them anything about that had happened, and it was unfair to them to call them, half stressed out, without being able to say what was wrong. She sat down on the couch again, which was extremely comfortable and then half stood up to get her phone off the glass salon table and put her mug of coffee down.   
'Let me see,' Temari said to herself as she opened her list with contacts and started scrolling through it. She felt awfully alone, wich the girl knew was a problem because regularly being alone wasn't a problem for her at all. She needed to at least talk to somebody, since it was impossible to get someone over to her now, half an hour before midnight and miles away from home. But with all of the persons she could come up with she faced the same problem she'd had with her brothers, she wasn't allowed to talk. The only persons with whom she could have a conversation about the things that were on her mind now were her colleagues. Temari looked up their numbers. They had all said that they didn't mind being called whenever it was, but Temari still felt a bit weird because this was not exactly about the case they were working on.   
'Don't make such a drama about it, jeez, you're not a fifteen years old,' she again said out loud to herself, looking through their numbers. Neji and Tenten were probably discussing the events with each other and she felt it was better to not interfere with them, so after a little hesitation she decided to call her youngest colleague. 

Shikamaru was out on the streets, even though it had become dark. He knew that it was not the smartest idea to walk alone now, but he just needed to be away from home for a little while. He needed to sort out his thoughts because it had been an intensive day. Again the moment he saw the red dot appear on his house played through his mind. He really had thought his parents were in danger, and even though that wasn't the case this time, the madman they were after had definitely shown that he was more than capable to do so if he wished. His family was at danger, just because he was doing his job. Shikamaru couldn't get his head around everything. He was aware that if you knew someone's identity you could easily figure out a lot about them by just having access to the internet, so it was not a surprise to him that this criminal knew where he lived. The concerning part was that he had no idea how this person had found out that he was working on it. Even though not impossible, the idea that someone of the bureau had leaked this information seemed unlikely, so what had happened then? Was this person secretly watching when they arrived at the murder scene?   
A chill went down Shikamaru's spine at this idea and suddenly walking outside alone in the dark seemed like a terrible idea after all.   
Suddenly he felt a vibration in his jacket pocket which almost gave him a heart attack, but he soon realised it was his phone. The idea that this caller could be the man they were hunting crossed through his mind, but Shikamaru told himself that he shouldn't be this paranoid. If this call did turn out t come from the murderer it didn't even make a difference after all, for he already knew where Shikamaru lived anyway. Shikamaru took his phone out of his jacket and saw it was Temari who was calling him, so he picked up while turned around a corner and was walking past a street.   
'Temari?' he simply asked when he picked up the phone, somehow still needing the confirmation that it was really his colleague he was talking to.   
'Yes,' she answered, adding: 'Sorry that I call you at this hour I just ne...' Shikamaru couldn't hear the end of the sentence because a truck passed by making a lot of noise, which apparently Temari had heard as well.  
'Are you outside?' She asked a bit shocked, and once again Shikamaru realised how stupid this idea had been in the first place.   
'Ehh, yeah... I needed to be away from home for a little while.'   
Has face twisted when he heard the elder girl almost scream 'Are you retarded or something?' on the other side of the line, feeling like a kid that was scolded by his mother for stealing candy. It was silent for a while until Temari spoke again.   
'Alright, where are you?' she asked, and Shikamaru immediately felt where this was going.   
'Temari, you are not going to bring me home, I am able to take care of myself.'  
'And I am really not comfortable with the idea that you are walking around on your own right now. If you don't want to go home you can come to my place, I needed someone to talk to anyway.   
Shikamaru wanted to start complaining but he did realise that she was right, so he didn't exactly have a reason to do so. He still sighed out loud to make sure Temari could hear it and answered with 'Fine then,' though the whole situation had made him feel stupid.   
'Where are you?' Temari asked again, implying on picking him up but Shikamaru resisted.  
'You are staying at hotel Herbe Plein Été right, I am near that place.'  
'How long will it take you to arrive?'  
'Eh, I don't know... five or ten minutes I guess?'  
'Then 10 minutes you get. If you haven't arrived by then I will assume your kidnapped.'  
'Oh seriously, don't make such a point out of this. I...'   
'You better walk fast boy,' Temari said, Shikamaru couldn't say anything back before she ended the call.


	7. Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is shorter, focussing on the decision that has to be made.
> 
> I hope to have more time to write in the future and make longer chapters. Perhaps we should get down to things brothers.

'What were you thinking?' Temari said, almost sounding like a mother punishing her child for getting into an unnecessary fight.   
'Does it matter?' Shikamaru simply replied. At first, this answer made Temari mad, but then she realised that perhaps he was right. Did it really matter? His motivations would not make a difference anyway. Neither was it her place to rebuke him. It made her question why she called him in the first place. What was she expecting from a person she barely knew, who she was forced to work together with? Temari realised that she didn't even know what she actually thought of him. She had just looked at him through the eyes of a colleague, as which he was supposed to take a written role.   
Temari let Shikamaru in as if the hotel room was her own house. She offered him a drink while Shikamaru sat down on a chair, leaning on it in a way that in such a short time had become familiar to Temari.   
'So, what is it?' Shikamaru asked as soon as Temari herself sat down on the couch. Somehow the question made her irritated, or even angry. Maybe it was the tone in his voice. He always had that same tone, Shikamaru would always sound like he didn't care at all, and even though Temari had made herself believe that it was not so, she started to doubt it. Who was she even to think that she knew anything about the way his thoughts worked in the first place? The intelligent kid, praised by the people around him. Perhaps he was just a spoiled brat placed into a role where he could have power.   
'Don't act like I didn't just literally get you off the street, will you?'  
Shikamaru just raised his eyebrow and then sighed.   
You're such a pain,' he said. 'It is not your problem at all, you know? If I decide to walk down the streets I lived in my entire life I do so. I do not need someone to look after me and I didn't ask you to. And besides, you called me.'  
They both sat down in silence, staring into nothing. They sat like that for a few seconds. The noise of the busy outside world filled the air. Even at midnight cars would pass. The life of all the other people just went on while theirs stood still. Other people didn't know about the dilemma they had to face, and what they had seen.   
Shikamaru turned his gaze outside and seemed lost in thought. For the first time, Temari noticed how handsome he was. His dark hair falling around his sharp face. The dark eyes that seemed to pierce through everything. He was not at all like the regular handsome person. He was handsome in his own, unique way, a way you didn't see often.   
As if something cleared from the air, they began to speak at the same moment.   
'I...'  
'So...'  
They paused again, waiting for each other to talk. When neither of them did, Shikamaru decided that he was not going to play the classic 'you-first-game' and began to talk.   
'I'm sorry, Temari. There is no reason for me to talk to you like that.' He said, daring to look at her right into her eyes. Temari first just looked at him straight, after a while she smiled softly and shook her head.   
'No, it's fine. I shouldn't have acted like you created the whole situation in the first place. I don't know why I did that.' Shikamaru now also looked down, he seemed to relax a little bit more.   
'It does more with you than you would like, doesn't it?' Temari knew that by asking he didn't even ask for her answer, just a confirmation of his own conflict.   
'It does,' she answered. 'It is harder to be cold towards something than it seems. Though I have to say that this all comes quite close.'  
'The more I think about it, the weirder everything gets. You always wait for murder to solve it, like hell, we even enjoy it more if the killer is smarter and didn't just end someone's life because he had a few too many drinks and didn't yet get his money back from an old friend. Ridiculous actually.'  
'You're right,' Temari said, though she had not often thought about it this way herself. 'It's often like making a game out of other people's misery, trying to get clues on something that can't be undone, for the deceased will stay dead even if you do get to bring justice to the killer.'   
'Jup,' Shikamaru said. 'I must say that thinking about this can give me headaches.' Then he went silent for a moment until he suddenly asked: 'Temari, who is it you are trying to protect?' Temari was a bit overwhelmed by this question, not expecting something like this at all. She wanted to go in her usual defence mode immediately. The girl had learned the hard way that talking about your fears would only make you vulnerable.   
'It is no use trying to hide it from me. I can see it in the way you consider everything, and how it moved you when I feared for the people close to me. The way you are looking is not the look of someone looking after herself. In fact, I doubt you even do.'   
Temari had the urge to defend herself again and bite off, but she realised that doing so would help her in no way at all. In the end, she wanted to talk to someone. Maybe it only made it easier for her that Shikamaru could read her, and that she didn't have to come up with things herself. She would have never done so anyway. It feared Temari, it scared her to the bone. But for the first time in years, she decided to open up to someone.   
'If you insist, I have two younger brothers,' she said. Somehow the doubt she had seemed to fade now the words were out. 'Kankuro and Gaara, he is the same age as you are.   
'I see,' Shikamaru said. 'You don't think they are safe?'  
'They probably are, I am just worrying too much. The brats are perfectly able to look after themselves, Kankuro is an adult after all. But still, it feels like I shouldn't have left him on their own.'   
'Hm. Understandable.' Shikamaru knew better than to push the girl before him any further by asking where her parents went, and he also knew better than saying everything would be alright. Temari had been hurt during her life. It was easy to tell that she had seen a lot. It was no use trying to comfort her with lies.   
'I am afraid that the only thing we can do is face the facts, though. This killer we are after, he knows our identities, and he knows how to get to our loved ones. It's just a shitty situation because no matter what you are going to do, you can never guarantee everyone's safety.'  
Temari looked at Shikamaru to meet his eyes, but he looked away. Silence again hung over the two.   
'Technically speaking, if the outcome can be the same either way, you cannot make the wrong decision. Neither can it be right, however. I guess in this case the choice is for once actually for you to make.'  
'I guess,' Temari let the words sink in. Technically speaking Shikamaru was right. However, if you can make a choice and it turns out to go wrong, it will always haunt you, no matter what the other decision could have been. However, she did not have the feeling that Shikamaru did not understand this.   
'You are not going to back out, are you?' she asked, though she knew the answer.   
'No. But for me, it is different though. I am by far the youngest person in the entire family and not the only one who chose a profession that could come with risks. Actually, my family has made quite a name for itself when it comes to murder investigations of police work. If I step out, perhaps my own father will step in. I think that somehow the fact that I know that makes it easier for me to decide.'   
'Maybe I am overthinking it. After all, you said that I couldn't make the wrong decision.'   
'But even if you can't make a wrong one, a decision has to be made.'   
Shikamaru stared out of the window again, though he did not see anything at all. He was thinking about his own words. He did say what he believed to be the truth, but for himself, he doubted his own words. It was quite unfair looking at it, saying to Temari that she would always be right whatever she did in this situation, and yet not being able to let that knowledge ease the dilemma in his head.   
'Well anyway though, I think I should leave you be.'   
'Oh you don't have to go yet if you don't want to go home,' Temari said. Talking about the risks of everything would probably not make Shikamaru more eager to go home and face his parents. And besides that, Temari preferred not to be alone right now herself. She could go to bed, but the walls would probably close in on her, and the silence would echo in her head. Finally being able to sleep, she would see her brothers faces, all to wake up in an empty apartment way to big to house one person. Talking couldn't be wrong, even if it was about nothing specific.   
'You know, the resemblances between you and your father are insane,' Temari said, only to talk about something that would take away the pressure in the air. Shikamaru smiled, or rather smirked, as seemed to be his way of showing emotions.   
'I hear that quite often,' he said. 'My mother goes as far as saying it's a curse. My father looked a lot like his father too.'   
'Well, you can't even tell that my siblings and I are related. My eldest brother has brown hair and eyes, the other has red hair and blue eyes. It truly is a question of how that happened.'   
'Your parents were quite artists then,' Shikamaru joked, feeling that the air had eased around them as he saw Temari smirk at his comment. He liked her, he decided, even though she could be quite pushy and act like she was his mother. Shikamaru wanted to get to know her better, realising that it was not so just because he didn't want to go home.   
Even though he kind off hated being traced by his mother, Shikamaru picked up his phone to message her where he was. If he liked it or not, the whole situation had moved close to his home, not to mention that his mother worried about him way too much to begin with. But this was not the time to be an annoying and resisting teenager to his mothers feeling of superiority.   
Temari stood up, probably to get another drink. Shikamaru smiled as she walked out of the room. the tension he had felt was gone, and he felt relaxed, just for this moment.


	8. The person from the past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am actually quite excited for others to read this. This chapter covers a lot of subjects I am really interested in, like criminology.   
> I hope once again that I can post new chapters more often

'Alright. Sit down.'  
Sometimes when you enter a room where you have been a hundred times, the air seems different. It is like a feeling can change your surroundings, like everything you see comes directly out of your mind and can change just as easily as the way you view one another. These are those moments that you question yourself, how much of what I see is real?   
'I am fine standing,' Shikamaru said while he leaned against the wall. It seemed to be a habit of him to stand during conversations. He could shape himself better this way.  
'Well, speak up.' Tsunade said. She didn't want to have this conversation because she knew how it was would go. The children wouldn't want to let go of the case. They now wanted to go to the bottom of the case surrounding this murder, not knowing that their minds were now divided into two parts. Parts of them that wanted this because of the passion they had for their profession and the other side, that wanted to show their worth to the grown up's world.  
Tsunade would have to admit that there was no other option than to give them what they wanted. She knew that she wasn't even allowed to make that decision, but she had to.  
'Well, what do you want to hear?' Shikamaru asked in his monotone voice. 'Obviously, you have heard the big parts and read them in the reports. This killer is still out there, and as we thought, the murdered man from earlier was not just a normal murder, if you can ever speak of one. All the clues we found, they were all real and not our imaginations going wild. He wanted us to find the clues, and then he wanted us to know that currently, he knows more about us then we know about him. Or her, since we don't even know if we are after a male or a female here.'   
'I know indeed. And that doesn't sound great now does it?' Tsunade didn't know what she had to say, as was rarely the case. She was known as a strong woman who could stand after her word and could handle everything. Of course she was no wonder woman, but a murder case should normally never make her feel ungrounded like this.   
'Obviously not, no,' Tenten once again wondered how Shikamaru even came up with talking to his elders in such a tone. Somehow he really didn't seem to mind. 'But then again, it is not that odd either. We don't have many useful results back from the lab, so naturally, we can't lay on eyes on a subject yet. And indeed it is quite troublesome that this person knows who is into his investigation. But our assignment to this case didn't exactly go secretive. It is no big deal to figure that out with a bit of internet and knowledge.' Saying it like this, the whole situation didn't seem that dramatic at all. But what Shikamaru left out on purpose was something that Tsunade knew very well herself and Shikamaru knew that too. Tsunade was perfectly aware of the whole situation. She knew way more about this than the investigators themselves. Shikamaru knew he couldn't fool her, but he could play in on her views and influence her final word that way. This person they were after was not just a killer. It seemed to be a mastermind what made the situation a whole lot worse.  
'He is right,' Neji said. he had taken a seat and had both his legs and his arms crossed. 'You can not say somebody has failed if you didn't give him a fair chance, neither will he succeed when you always want to look for the things that went wrong.' It almost sounded like he accused Tsunade and Tenten kicked him and then sighed.   
'We know that this is a decision for you too, chief.' She gave Neji a deadly glance. 'But the real issue is not whether we fail or not, this is about our safety.'   
'Indeed it is,' Tsunade said. Immediately a feeling of guilt came over her again.   
'Will it change anything though, getting us off this case?' Temari said. 'You cannot predict a person and nobody has ever said that he will not do something to us if we stop investigating him. And if he leaves us alone, then he'll just have a new target.'   
Tsunade knew that they would have all prepared what they wanted to say and they saw how serious matters were. Looking back on it, she shouldn't have allowed them to start investigating this murder in the first place. Easily someone could have flown over so that there would have been at least one detective in the group with real-life experience. But Tsunade had done what she had. She had these children allowed to walk to their deaths and now there was no way back. Everything she had considered would all go to waste if she changed her actions now and it was just as Temari said, they were already in danger. Tsunade had indeed come into this meeting while she had already made up her mind. But she had to fight back anyway because her colleagues had to think it was their victory when they would be allowed to try to solve this themselves. She wanted to have faith, but in her heart, she knew that the chance was small that any of them would be above ground when this was over. It made Tsunade, the powerful, strong woman who could show authority to even those who should be way above her level, feel sick. As it should, but she intended to ignore this until everything was clear.   
Once again, she felt uncertain. Was it already believable enough to give in right now? If she would say that she had no other choice, would these investigators already believe that they had won over their boss? As she finally decided that she had to give it a try, somebody knocked upon the door.

The person behind the door seemed to feel he had been polite enough by knocking and didn't waste another moment. Kakashi and Asuma came rushing through the door expecting to find Tsunade alone. The situation was quite the opposite when they were staring at the faces of their younger colleagues. At first, both Kakashi and Asuma both stood motionless, not knowing how to respond, but after a split second Asuma put on a smile.   
'Fucked up already, Shikamaru?' He laid an evil grin upon his student who still stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Shikamaru was not surprised by this behaviour of Asuma at all during serious situations. Asuma was the type to always be positive and, honestly, upsettingly annoying.   
'Actually, we are probably doing better than you, judging from the way you two almost fall over the doorstep.' He said, but without a grin. He looked rather annoyed, but well, what else was there to expect.   
'Fair enough,' Asuma answered, then he turned towards Tsunade. 'When is a good time for us to come back?'  
Tsunade considered what she just had heard. Judging from the conversation between Asuma and Shikamaru something had happened when Kakashi and Asuma had been visiting Zûko.   
'I think it is better if I hear about this right away,' Tsunade said. The case surrounding Zûko was not in secret anymore now that he was behind bars, so it would not be a problem if the team that was already here in the room heard about what happened. In fact, she deemed it wise if they did hear about this too. It was never a bad idea to have some extra thoughts on an extraordinary case like this, but even more, she wanted them to be warned one more time of what they were choosing to get into.   
'At first, I do have to inform you that we did not get his actual prediction out of him,' thus Kakashi began speaking because he had got the hint that Tsunade allowed the others to stay in the room. 'But there is quite a story'   
~  
Asuma and Kakashi walked out of a lift that had brought them down to a floor that was beneath the regular ground. Somehow it did still feel a bit toxic that the criminals that had been judged to be the most dangerous were kept underground. People who had were locked up here were only allowed to go out of their cells 30 minutes a day. They could choose to go outside, but there they would still be in a small room surrounded by high walls that made sure that they could in no circumstances meet other prisoners. It was the ever-lasting conflict that played through the human mind when it came to crime. Where you to treat a person with humanity when they had done something inhuman? As a person that wanted to act in the name of law and justice, should you not be above hatred and give even a serial killer the chance to improve his life. For most people with a profession involving murder, this question was the thing that was the hardest to handle and not fear, despite the thoughts of many.   
For both men, it was not the first time entering a prison. Working on murder cases, it is not uncommon to have to visit someone in prison to talk about a suspect and his past life. But in this part of the prison, they had been two times, trice maybe. But the feeling would never familiarise. Prisons were often filled with the noise of inmates screaming. People would share their room with a few people and could go outside sometimes. Often fights would break out because one of the main themes in prison is the hierarchy. There were bosses, they had followers, and the different sides had war. Behind bars, where fighting was impossible, making noise was a way to show your rank. Never was it completely silent.   
In this part of The Jones Rogers Penitentiary, the floor known as the psycho-floor as it was named by people in the neighbourhood, there was rarely a voice to be heard. The jail was known to have one of the best-guarded areas in the entire continent, so a lot of dangerous people were placed here. Asuma and Kakashi stood in front of the doors of this exact room.   
The guard held his pass against a scanner and after that typed a code before the final door went open. The three men had passed many doors and even more locks. Some of these locks could be opened by keys and others could be unlocked by electronics our codes. When the door opened, Kakashi and Asuma felt overwhelmed by the silence that felt as if it was pressing upon their ears. It still felt unreal, this entire place. The enormous chamber they walked in looked like an abandoned factory. The roof was high, and the walls had no wallpaper our paint, they were just high walls made of cold stone. The hall had was long, and in the walls, there were on either side cells. The front of the cells was made out of glass, and several guards were sitting and watching the inmates. In their squared room, the prisoners could always be seen and could do nothing to surprise the prison-guards. Two cells were facing each other, so they could also always see their fellow sufferers. They could even now they were torn out of their lives of hatred look upon others who where suffering. Suffering would forever be a part of the sinners’ life.   
Here, in this part of the prison, there was no hierarchy. The criminals here didn't commit a crime for money our power, the people here all had a different, more twisted story behind their deeds. You could not only see this in their outlandish behaviour, now that it was known where to look you could also see it in their eyes.   
The feeling when walking through this hall gave chillings down the spine. Every footstep echoed, and all the people could hear you and were watching you. All the eyes that laid upon you as you would walk through this hall had destroyed lives. They all had their own story and the stories of these men and women were all twisted. Yet Asuma and Kakashi were told to ignore everyone here but one person.  
Zûko's cell was almost at the end of the hall, and both Kakashi and Asuma were silent. Normally they would speak to each other. Both men had become used to working with each other and enjoyed it. They knew each others' weaknesses and capabilities. However, talking now seemed inappropriate. All the prisoners could hear all they had to say, so it felt weird to ask one another how they felt at seeing this murderer again. The idea that their entire conversation would be heard by all the people in this hall, suddenly made Kakashi feel uncomfortable. He touched the shoulder of the guard that accompanied the two men, and then whispered into his ear:   
'Are we going to do this hear?' He didn't have to say more for the guard immediately understood his problem.   
'No, we are going to take him to a separate room at the end of the hall. I do not think that it would be good for the others here to hear what he has to say. I doubt he'll talk anyway, for he was quite clear that he only wanted to talk to you two. of course, we will be able to see you so we know if everything is alright, but you two are the only ones who will hear his predictions.'  
'Do you believe he will speak?' Now that the silence had been broken he felt no reason not to ask his questions anymore. 'It is a bit weird, right? Surely he knows that we will not keep the things he tells us a secret, so what is the whole matter behind telling it to us only?'  
'Well, Mr Sarutobi, I have worked here a long time with Zûko himself. I am actually on quite good terms with him. I know that that is a weird thing to say, but he has always been nonviolent and obeying during his time in prison, at least until recently. As a guard, it is my job to take care of inmates, and during my experience, I have learned that the best way to do so is by handling them as human beings. And when you see people as human beings, you also start to see that they have personalities. Serial killers are almost regular people. It is strange how thin that line is. Even though I could never befriend a sadistic killer knowing what he has done, I do now no that you can like their personality, or find them funny. I have spent a lot of time with Zûko as his personal guard. I learned a lot about him. I think I can even say that I know his personality. But after all those years there is one thing I have still no idea of, and I doubt anybody does, how Zûko's brain works. I doubt he even knows himself. So I can not answer that question, and I doubt anybody can. But what I can tell you, though I don't think I need to, for you are the probably the two people who know the most about Zûko, is that he does nothing without a purpose. I am not sure if he knows that purpose beforehand, but he has a reason. He always has a reason.'  
Indeed this was no news for Kakashi and Asuma. It seemed Zûko hadn't changed at all. It was like they were back in time, once again talking to a person that back then was only a suspect.   
When they arrived at Zûko's cell, he was sitting on his bed that was barely more than a shelf against the wall that had a white pillow and a blanket.   
When Zûko heard them approaching, he turned around. Upon seeing Kakashi and Asuma, he smiled, and indeed he had not changed at all.   
'I was waiting to see you,' Zûko said, and it gave a strange feeling. As the guard had said before, everything that the man did had been planned. He turned around when Kakashi and Asuma reached his cell because he wanted to. He knew they had been in the hall much before, but he intentionally. Zûko wanted Kakashi and Asuma to see his smile. He wanted to be the one in command. He would be the one to decide when he showed his face, and just like always, his old enemies would only see the things of him he wanted them to see. Always patient, always flowing like seeds on a calm spring wind. Still in command, even if he was the one behind bars.   
'I was looking forward to this moment, you know. And that is honestly said. I missed the conversations we used to have, don't you?'  
His shining blue eyes pierced through as he was smiling. Zûko had long blond, almost silver hair, and was of a perfect posture. He was tall and muscular, but still slim. He sat on his bed with a straight back. The only thing that had changed about him from the first time Kakashi and Asuma met him was that his clothing. In his free life, he would always make sure that he was wearing fashionable clothing. Fashionable enough to attract attention, but not striking enough to stand out.   
'You know why we are here, Zûko.' Kakashi said. 'We have no other interest in you.' Kakashi didn't want to be played. He knew what Zûko was doing, and even as an investigator he found it hard to find out if the man before him was true or not. Zûko did interest him, he surely did. It was one of the most interesting cases in his entire life, and Kakashi did not look back on everything with affliction, because Zûko was behind bars. But still, even though he had won and the only thing he could possibly give Zûko was a slight form of satisfaction, it felt uneasy to play in his hands. Zûko had to know where he stood, a prisoner. He should not have the pleasure of knowing that in fact Kakashi had looked forward talking to him again too.   
'Surely I do, Kakashi Hatake. Clearly, you do not feel anything for making this meeting enjoyable for me. But know that I am already a step ahead of you because you are here. You are here because I wanted you to be here.' Kakashi knew better than to snap. Maybe he could not hide his emotions in front of this man, but he could show that he was able to control them.   
A door behind them opened, and a few guards came walking in. Zûko would not be transported to a different room by one man, even though he still was behind several locked doors.   
'Step forward with your back against the glass,' a guard said with a firm voice. He was not about to play friendly with sinners.   
Zûko obediently walked towards the door and placed his back against it, his hands behind his back. The guard put a key in a keyhole, and a small hatch opened. Without someone having to tell him, he put his hands out and the officer handcuffed him. he walked back into the back of his cell and once again sat down on his bed. He smiled at the guard. It was not an evil laugh, but it seemed to assure. As if the criminal wanted to say that everything was fine and that they could open up the cell as if it was nothing. And as he wished, as sickening as it felt the hatch was closed another key was put into another lock. A code was entered, another lock appeared, another key opened it, and then there were no more. The door was open, Zûko walked out. After many years Kakashi and Asuma were in the same room again as their former target.


End file.
